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Teenage leukemia survivor Anise Fletcher dies at 21

By Scott RochatLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
05/21/2013 08:23:48 PM MDT

Updated:
05/21/2013 08:24:43 PM MDT

LONGMONT -- Anise Fletcher, who made headlines as a 13-year-old leukemia survivor and then again as a dental patient operated on by a surgeon who lacked an active license, died in her sleep May 14 at the age of 21. Her funeral was Monday.

Fletcher, a Thornton woman who grew up in Longmont, was the subject of a 2005 Times-Call feature when she was nearing the end of her treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia -- while also serving as a Denver Broncos junior cheerleader, completing the 195-mile Courage Classic bicycle ride and winning The Children's Hospital annual holiday card fundraising project.

"I'm used to good things happening to me," she told the Times-Call.

Her preliminary cause of death has been reported as respiratory arrest.

In 2009, when she was 17, Fletcher had her wisdom teeth removed by an unlicensed resident and an oral surgeon who had been practicing for six years with an inactive license. Her mother, Kim Johnson of Longmont, said her daughter's trigeminal nerve had been cut during the procedure, leaving her in chronic pain. The incident was reported in 2010 by the Denver Post after her family said they planned to sue.

Johnson said Fletcher had found her passion working as a waitress, despite medical issues that included some short-term memory loss from chemotherapy.